Paper Mario and the Darkest Desire
by Toufuu Logan
Summary: The royal family are the only ones who know of the Darkest Desire, but why has it been released onto the Mushroom Kingdom? Mario must travel the lands beyond the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom, and farther than he's ever traveled before to find the normal seven mystical artifacts he has to find, but why is it that Peach hasn't been kidnapped, and instead insists on coming along?


**Logan: All right, before I say anything, this fanfic was heavily inspired by Chuggaaconroy on youtube, for all of his Paper Mario LPs that I listened to while doing homework, and by that one little guy, author of Paper Mario and the Temple of the Sun here on Fanfiction. Go look both of them up, they're awesome.**

**Mario: And Logan here is not going to keep me quiet for the story. After all, I do talk in some games.**

**Logan: Now please leave a review and sub! The story isn't going to be updated**_** too **_**regularly since I'm in college right now, but I'll try to get a chapter up when I can.**

A young girl was humming as she danced around her room. An older woman watching her with crinkled eyes laughed at the girls antics from the bed. "Dearie, you really must go to bed. It's almost midnight."

"Oh, but mother!" The girl frowned. "It's the eve of the Festival!"

"No "but"s dearie." The woman smiled. "You have a big day tomorrow. It's your official coronation after all."

The younger of the two pouted and sat on the bed with a "Humph" before the elder started tickling her. "M-M-mother! S-stop it!" She stuttered out before a fit of laughter overwhelmed her.

The elder did as her daughter wanted and stood up, moving towards the small bookcase in the corner of the room. "Now dearie, which story do you want today? The tale of the Star Rod?"

The younger shook her head. "You tell me that almost every night. I could recite that in my sleep."

"Well then." A pink nailed hand brushed some long, grey hair behind her ear. "The tale of the Thousand year-"

"Mother, really?" The younger laughed, her blue eyes looking at all of the books on the wall. "That's the tale we read when I want to be scared."

"Oh yes, yes. My mistake."

The mother frowned. "The tale of the Sticker-"

"No thank you Mother." The daughter laid back in her bed, looking at the pink Canopy overhead. "I want to keep that one for my birthday."

"Seven stars of Star road?" The mother fiddled with her silver night gown.

"That story written by Taro Toad?" The blond giggled. "It's pure fantasy."

"You'd be surprised." The elder sat beside her little princess and tapped her brooch once.

A small shine came from it and an elderly toad's voice came from the stone, "Yes Queen?"

"I think it's time for my daugher to learn about the Desires."

"Desires?" The girl's eyes widened. "Like wishes?" She grinned.

"Yes, but not exactly." The woman's smiled slightly as a young male toad brought in a silver book with eight runes on the cover. The toad handed the Queen the book and bowed. "Oh come now, John. We've known each other forever. You must stop treating me like I'm on a pedastal."

"Er." John blushed and dashed out of the room while the ladies laughed.

"He's always like that." The queen sat down beside the princess and opened the silver book. On the first page was an image of seven heart shapes.

"Seven again? What's so special about that?"

"Seven is a magical number, dearie." The queen laughed. "We often send out groups of seven to different places, or have parties inviting seven different races, to protect them." The queen's finger ran across the page and landed on the words at the bottom.

_Today I shall tell you about the Carnal Desires._

"'Carnal'? But isn't that-"

The Queen laughed, "It can also mean 'worldly'." The queen flipped the page, a picture of seven symbols in seven different places of the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond.

_The Carnal Desires are seven items that represent what people Desire from the bottoms of their hearts, and are often called the Heart's Desires as well._

"I like that name better." the Princess frowned with a slight bit of red on her cheeks.

"I do too dearie."

_The Heart's Desires have been lost with time, but a select few have been taught all their lives to desire one of the desires represented._

"Is that why that family asked to use the library?" the princess turned to her. "Were they one of the family's who wanted something?"

"Not exactly. You see, the Heart's Desires are not anything material, like a dress or a crown. Instead they represent what people want in life."

"Like someone to cherish?" the Princess's eyes shone at that.

"Precisely."

_Each of the Heart's Desires were used to seal away the Darkest Desire._

The princess blinked and looked at the first page. "Hey. It title dropped."

The queen laughed. "It's actually quite common."

_Something veryLegend has it that the seven items will be reawakened once the Darkest Desire escapes from its prison._

The princess shivered in fear. "That's eerie."

_However to unlock the Darkest Desire, one who desires it must learn of the location and travel there, removing it._

The queen closed the book lightly. "Destruction has been sealed in a secluded place, and the Festival of Wishes is a celebration of the time the seven Wielders of Desire used the Heart's Desires to lock it away."

The princess blinked in confusion, "So the seven baubles in the ceremony tommorow?"

"Represent those seven, yes." The queen nodded.

The princess's eyes sparkled as she thought of the seven crystal spheres that every queen before her has blessed on the day the crown was passed on to them. Then she turned to her mother. "But wait, why are you telling me this now?"

The queen flpped the book over and pointed to the author, shocking her daughter as the name clicked. "Merlon?"

"Yes, one of the Mer fanily scattered across our lands." The queen turned and frowned. "Merlon warned me when you were born that during your reign, the Desires may be needed."

The princess watched in awe as her mother unclipped the broach and held it out. "M-mom?"

The queen smiled. "If you will be the face of the Mushroom Kingdom tomorrow, you'll need to look the part."

"But, what about you and Daddy?" The blond looked up. "You never told me what you would do."

"Oh, it's nothing special." The queen smiled and put the brooch into her daughter's hand. "You will be the face, and we will be the ones who do all of the stuffy official business. You will have to learn it, my Peach." The princess giggled at the nickname her father started, due to her love of pink. "Just not right away."

Peach rolled the brooch in her hands before pinning it onto her ceremony dress. "Thank you mother."

"You're welcome-"

"PRINCESS!" Peach shot up out of bed in shock, throwing her hairbrush at the intruder.

"Toadsworth! What are you doing!" She glared at the old toad, pulling her sheets up.

"Princess, you must get ready. The ceremony is starting in-"

"Toadsworth, I know. I've taken part in the ceremony for around a decade." She glared, yawning. "I can handle preparing myself in less time than..." She looked at the clock on the wall, sighing. "Five hours."

"But, what if Bowser-"

"Bowser and I have an agreement." She stood up, brushing her nightgown and looking in her dressers. "He can only 'kidnap' me from now on when we're not having a celebration, just so long as I invite him to the next party as a participant and not a villain." She pulled a second brush out and combed it through her hair. "I've even invited him to take part in the ceremony as a show of good will to the Koopa Kingdom."

Toadsworth paled. "But princess-"

"No buts, Toadsworth. As the face of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the head of it starting this year, I will not allow you to discriminate against him. We've played sports with him multiple times, after all, and he doesn't really keep me in a dungeon until Mario comes in- if only to protect me from their little spat." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's more of a vacation for me and it gives Mario a bit of time away from fixing toilets."

Toadsworth sputtered as the princess started humming. "Bu- you- wha- Princess Peach, he's been taking you away since you were eighteen!"

"Yes, and I don't hold it against him. It's called forgiving, Toadsworth." She placed the brush on the dresser and turned. "And now, I have to get ready, since you woke me up so early. Leave."

"But Pri-" The door slammed shut on the elder toad and Peach sighed, going to her ceremonial gown.

The dress was, to put it simply, a deep red version of her normal dress, with silver beadwork along each and every fold of the fabric. She sighed and ran her hand along the fabric, quoting the tales that her mother told her about long ago. "The Seven Fallen Stars, the Star Rod, the Thousand Year Door, the Void... All of the tales you told me when I was younger have come true except this one."

Peach's eyes hardened. "I swear I won't be the damsel in distress this time."

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**Paper Mario and the Darkest Desire**

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